Ohio State Appoints Professor Lee Strang to Direct New Salmon Chase Center

A strong appointment for an important new initiative at Ohio State University.

The Ohio State University (tOSU) has appointed Professor Lee Strang as the inaugural Executive Director of the Salmon P. Chase Center for Civics, Culture, and Society. This is good news. Professor Strang is an excellent choice for this position.

From tOSU's press release:

The Ohio State University has appointed legal scholar Lee J. Strang as the inaugural executive director of the Salmon P. Chase Center for Civics, Culture, and Society. Strang is the inaugural director of the University of Toledo's Institute of American Constitutional Thought & Leadership and currently serves as the John W. Stoepler Professor of Law & Values at the University of Toledo, where has been a member of the faculty since 2008.

Lee J. Strang

"Lee is an exceptional constitutional scholar with a wealth of administrative experience, and we are excited that he will join the university to stand up and lead the new Salmon P. Chase Center," said Karla Zadnik, interim executive vice president and provost. "Our shared goal is for the center to become a national leader in teaching, research and engagement on U.S. civics, culture and society."

Initiated in 2023 by the state of Ohio, the Salmon P. Chase Center will be an academic home at Ohio State for teaching and researching the foundation of the American constitutional order and its impact on society. As executive director, Strang will be responsible for organizing the center, overseeing the hiring and appointment of the center's faculty, developing curriculum and delivering academic programming.

Professor Strang is a strong scholar, a dedicated teacher, and someone who commits himself to the institutions of which he is a part. I look forward to seeing what he builds at the Chase Center.

The release also says this about the Chase Center:

When it is fully operational, the center will have at least 15 tenure-track faculty members and provide a variety of innovative educational and collaboration opportunities for students and faculty from across the university. The center will be an independent academic center physically housed in the John Glenn College of Public Affairs. . . .

The Chase Center academic council led the nationwide search for the executive director. The academic council members are scholars with national reputations for academic excellence and come from Ohio and universities across the nation.

[Note: Why "tOSU" instead of "OSU"? Well, if it's "the Ohio State University" then tOSU reflects that fact.]